nobody's_hero

Did you have kids you can't afford? Are you tired of watching your childless neighbor go on bass fishing trips and enjoying life without financial burden because he carefully planned ahead and knows what he wants? Wish you could make him pay for something he neither wants nor needs? Rome, Georgia public schools can help:

Rome City Schools parents short on cash won’t have to look under sofa cushions for change for lunch money next year.

Brandy Money, nutrition coordinator for the school system, said lunches will be free for students during the 2014-2015 school year. The issue was discussed during Tuesday’s Rome Board of Education meeting.

Rome City Schools qualifies for a USDA-sponsored program that funds the free lunches.

“At this time of year, we are usually discussing the upcoming expected costs of lunches for the new year, but this year, thanks to this program, we don’t have to,” said Superintendent Jeff Bearden. “All students will be able to have meals for free.”

June 30, 2014 – The long-awaited ruling by the Supreme Court dealing with Hobby Lobby came down. I did not find any surprises in this ruling. I agree that they ruled correctly, but it doesn’t solve many of our problems.

The biggest problem is that government is more than an instrument of issuing mandates. As they do this, of course, they diminish liberty. There was a time when governments were supposed to protect liberty, and minimize any of the mandates on the people.

Unfortunately, the majority of the American people actually agree with the Supreme Court. They think that women have a right to free birth control. I strongly disagree with that.

Ruehlman found in March that the speed cameras were unconstitutional, essentially then ordering them shut down, along with the speed ticket program. He also ruled that outstanding tickets issued as a result of the system did not have to be paid.

During the June 27 hearing, Ruehlman found that his order had been violated in a number of ways. First off, the cameras had been turned back on, though Elmwood Place Police Chief Bill Peskin said during the hearing that they were only used to collect traffic and speed data, not to collect license plate information or to issue new traffic tickets.

He also testified that people who had come to the station to pay tickets they had been issued were told that they didn't have to.

"Many people did show up, trying to pay their citation to us," Peskin said, "and we told them that the program was to be suspended and they didn't have to pay the citation."

The thing is, tickets were never meant to be paid to the suburb - though some monies apparently were collected, with some going back to Elmwood Place, according to court testimony.

"The traffic camera company collected the citations, and apparently continued to collect money sent in after the judge's March order," WLWT reported. "There was testimony in court that some $48,000 was collected, with a percentage of that money passed on to the village per the speed camera contract. Optotraffic did not have a representative in court Thursday.